Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Freud (and the movie 300)
Lets talk about Freud! Plus King Kong, 300, and a NEW LOCATION
Here is the trailer for 300: https://youtu.be/UrIbxk7idYA
10 comments:
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so...lets say a movie such as A Nightmare on Elm street where the people are having these nightmares lead by Freddy, was he making the people have their dreams for the purpose of revealing their hidden desires they didn't know they had and that is why it was scary for them or was it just more than that?
ReplyDeleteThat is a great example of the CHARACTERS in the story and their relation to unconscious desire. What makes Freud interesting is this — consider the way Freddie is like THE DIRECTOR OF THE MOVIE and the kids in the movie ARE LIKE THE AUDIENCE! THE DIRECTOR OF THE MOVIE IS SCREWING WITH THE AUDIENCE JUST LIKE FREDDIE SCREWS WITH THE KIDS.
Delete(Although the real nightmare in Nightmare on Elm Street is that this story about kids unprepared to defeat a supernatural evil because their parents kept secret who he is and where he comes from IS REALLY ABOUT SHELTERED SUBURBAN KIDS WHOSE PARENTS DONT TELL THEM ABOUT CHILD MOLESTERS AND SO LEAVE THEM UNPREPARED FOR THE EVILS OF THE REAL WORLD).
My favorite movie is Mystery Men, which is about the dumbest, goofiest superheroes (underdogs) having to step up when the smarmy superhero (who is a corporate sellout asshole) gets kidnapped, and they have to save the city by defeating Casanova Frankenstein (an evil genius, sort of sexualized) and his teams who are like, disco dancers and the gang Big Tobacco. They make their own costumes and have a mysterious dude who makes them practice supporting each other and-
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOD it's hippies in a commune/maybe cult? Hahahahaha, I had never thought about it that way, and that's totally accurate. I grew up in Portland where it is encouraged to be weird and different, and my mom keeps chickens in the backyard and has always composted. Amazing.
Mystery Men has one of my favorite exchanges in any movie.
Delete— Lance Brockman is Captain Amazing!
— how can lance Brockman be Captian Amazing?! Lance Brockman wears glasses!
— he just takes them off when he’s Captain Amazing
— then how does he SEE?
Wow this was really interesting, I had no idea King Kong was about American slavery and didn't know 300 was really about that, but now watching the trailer it seems so obvious.
ReplyDeleteAlso the Nightmare on Elm st movies are my favorite! Regarding your comment ^ I always heard rumors about the idea that Freddy was a child molester but had no idea that's what the movie was really about. Crazy!
-Delaney Murray
They don’t say it outright but that is heavily implied. Adults killing children is very rare and I think almost always sexually motivated if it is not a family member
DeleteFreud definitely belonged in the English dep not science. I’m actually learning about him in such too and its just so interesting ... I’d love to know how his brain worked.
ReplyDeleteBrooks would tell you don’t worry about the guy worry about the words on the page! (Actually Freud’s biography is pretty interesting)
DeleteI can't remember where I read or saw this and sorry to keep bringing up QT (who isn't really one of my favorite directors but a director which is just so quotable/vocal about film and media and culture) but he said that even if the filmmakers of King Kong didn't intend to make a film about American slavery, that is still what their effect has turned out to be. It doesn't matter if a film does or does not intend anything: in the end the effect is what matters, because that's how the film exists. This led me to an interesting conversation with my roommate, after we both recently rewatched ZERO DARK THIRTY, one of my top 30 favorite films of all time. Ever since I first saw the film at the age of 13, I remember being confronted with the really hard question of: what does it mean to be a good American? Not many films genuinely ask this question. It was a rare moment when it was not me asking the art what it meant, but the art asking me what I meant. I really enjoyed the narrative storytelling techniques and craft of the film (the screenwriter, Mark Boal, was a journalist-turned-screenwriter and the script, which I read around age 18, was extremely engrossing yet precise in a way the other average Hollywood screenplays I've read are not) and the integrity Bigelow seemed to have and imbue into her work in exploring the tough realities and limits of American ideals. In fact, this film makes me want to learn all about the complexities and languages and cultures and histories of the Middle East and Central Asia in order to become a less-unaware American who simply thinks: America, good, Middle East, bad. But my roommate, who grew up in a conservative small town, hated the effect of the movie more than he himself enjoyed it in the similar sense that I did: the people in his small town saw the film as evidence for the need of American imperialism and as justification for racism and discrimination against Muslims and foreigners in general. Because of this movie, the people in his small town perhaps retreated further into their thinking that: America, good, Middle East, bad. So the film exists as two different things? It's like Schrodinger's cat and I'm not sure how to make sense of it!!!
ReplyDeleteMovies work like this! I was pretty sure Fight Club was making fun of those dum dums but a LOT OF PEOPLE thought it was unironically endorsing Brad Pitt’s opinion! The real nightmare begins when you realize not only can the guy next to you be having a very different experience but YOU CAN HAVE A CONTRADICTORY EXPERIENCE IN YOUR OWN HEAD — ENTER DAVID LYNCH
Delete